1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to a wound coil of tie material packaged on a display base, and a process for producing it. In the following description the wound coil of tie material will be called a "bobbin" and a wound coil of tie material means a wound coil of wire tie material.
1. Description of the Prior Art
At the present time numerous products packaged on display bases in the form of cards are sold in commerce. These display bases are usually of cardboard, plastic material, cardboard coated with plastic material, and the like. At the top they generally have a perforation enabling them to be easily hung on any suitable support. The products attached to such display bases are encapsulated in a sheath of plastic material which is bonded or otherwise fixed to the card. When a user wishes to gain access to the packaged product, he must tear or pull off the sheath of plastic material. This entails no major disadvantages for certain objects for immediate use, such as, for example, electric bulbs or batteries, but it does constitute a serious drawback for articles intended for prolonged use, such as a wound coil of tie material or bobbin. A bobbin of this kind is, for example, a coil of flexible wire coated with plastic material. This flexible plastic-coated wire is used for ties or fasteners for many purposes: in the house, for example, for closing bags, in the garden for fastening a stake or branches, in the workshop for fastening numerous objects, and for other purposes.
The tie is cut to the required length with the aid of a cutting tool.
It will readily be understood that if the protective sheath attached to the display base is torn off, the bobbin will unwind in a disorderly manner and a great length of tangled wire will thus be obtained.
The bobbins are usually sold with great lengths of wire, for example about 25 meters.
Two main types of packaged bobbins are known: bobbins contained in rigid shells and bobbins encapsulated in semirigid sheaths.
Thus, bobbins packaged at the present time on a display base with a rigid shell are, for example, disposed in a receptacle or cover of rigid plastic material which after opening does not ensure satisfactory unwinding of the wire, since its unwinding is uncontrolled. In addition, the cost of the display base is rather high.
Rigid shells may be of the refillable or discardable type.
Other bobbins on the market are encapsulated either completely or partially in a semirigid sheath. The major disadvantage of semirigid sheaths, the cost price of which is lower than that of rigid shells, is that, whatever the sheath is made, the wire becomes entangled and leads to the formation of kinks when it unwinds. After a certain number of applications the wire thus becomes unusable.
Prior art bobbins are also usually supplied complete with a cutting tool. The cutting tool has fastening means, for example eyelets, enabling it to be riveted to the display card. In certain cases the cutting tool is riveted directly to one of the parts of the shell of plastic material. All these operations take time and their cost is substantial.